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Looking to play popular team-based shooter Overwatch but don't want to spring for the actual game? You're in luck next weekend, then, as Blizzard's cartoonish and charming FPS is coming to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from September 22nd through the 25th.

Are you getting excited about the upcoming launch of space-shooter Destiny 2? If the impactful shared-world experience doesn't grab you and the themed PS4 Pro bundle is out of your reach, this new trailer might help ratchet up your anticipation. Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts of Kong: Skull Island fame, the Destiny 2 live-action trailer has robot Nathan Fillion exhorting three new recruits to find the big guns and take back the Earth from "a psycho rhino named Ghaul."

We already got a taste of Destiny 2 during the beta test last weekend on consoles, but Bungie is finally revealing when PC gamers (who didn't make the trip to E3) will have their chance . The beta test will run from August 28th to the 31st, with gamers who've pre-ordered going in first, again, before doors open to everyone on the 29th. Bungie has also published minimum and recommended specs, as well as a suggestion about hardware available to buy today that would be a worthwhile upgrade.

Activision Blizzard is taking Overwatch eSports seriously. The Overwatch League begins next year and it completely transforms the face of professional play, tying teams to specific cities around the world and establishing a baseline of player protections, including minimum salaries and benefits. But, Blizzard has kept most details of its new system under wraps -- until today.

It's easy to think of the original Destiny as a large-scale, highly polished test run for Bungie's vision of the future of video games. When Destiny came out in September 2014, it was unclear whether an MMO-style first-person shooter could even work on consoles, and it wasn't guaranteed players would be able to reliably connect to the servers over the game's lifetime. We're talking about an online-focused game that landed on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 alongside current-generation consoles, back before Rocket League, Smite or Overwatch invaded the living room. Back when the industry knew something like Destiny was possible but not whether it would be popular or profitable.

Bungie has tweaked Destiny over the game's lifetime, incorporating fan feedback into add-ons like The Taken King and Rise of Iron, and players have stuck around for the ride. Last week, fans got their hands on Destiny 2for the first time in an open beta across Xbox One and PlayStation 4 -- and though the test was supposed to end over the weekend, it was extended through July 25th. Now that Bungie has proved Destiny's success, the sequel is a chance to truly push the medium forward and leverage a new ecosystem of connected consoles.

YouTube Gaming hit the net in August 2015, promising to compete with the live-streaming world's dominant force, Twitch. Two years later, both sites have evolved. Twitch offers a raft of nongaming streams -- including anime and '90s-TV marathons, cooking shows and creative corners -- plus it instituted an in-chat tipping system and enabled game sales directly on individual channels. Twitch has its own bustling economy.

Meanwhile, YouTube Gaming produced live shows, reorganized its UI a few times and rolled out "sponsorships," allowing viewers to send cash to streamers each month.

Today, YouTube Gaming is lagging behind Twitch when it comes to actual viewer numbers, as demonstrated by the hottest new release: the open beta for Destiny 2. The beta went live July 18th, and it's been a hot topic across the video game community, with dedicated fans clamoring to consume every shiny new weapon, map and mode. Destiny 2 represents big-budget, AAA games with massive audiences -- the gaming industry's bread and butter. So, how is it faring on the two largest live-streaming sites?

Doomfist is the most anticipated new character to hit Overwatch since the game landed one year ago, and players finally know when they can get their hands on him: July 27th. Doomfist is the fourth addition totheroster, but he's been in the game's lore from day one. His golden glove was featured in the first trailer for Overwatch, teasing an extremely powerful, punching villain -- and that's exactly what players will get later this month.

"I think the next six months are going to determine what eSports will look like for the next few decades."

That's Noah Whinston, the 22-year-old college dropout who in 2015 founded Immortals, one of North America's leading eSports teams. Whinston believes in a future where the eSports industry is stable, capable of launching careers, generating buckets of cash and sustaining incredible hype around the world. And he's not alone.

Whinston is just one of seven owners who bought a spot in the Overwatch League, Activision Blizzard's international eSports endeavor that aims to root professional Overwatch teams in specific cities -- a lot like the NFL or NBA operates, but on a global scale. Today, Blizzard revealed the Overwatch League's first seven team owners, who run the gamut from tech companies to traditional-sports investors:

PlayStation is repeating history. Once again it's dropping a white Destiny bundle, except this time it's for this September's Destiny 2 and the hardware is a PlayStation 4 Pro. The limited edition 1TB console will set you back $449.99 in the US and it will be released on September 6th. In addition to the game and PS4 Pro, the bundle includes early access (like all PS4 editions) to bonus bits, as well as an expansion pass. If your white 2TB Xbox One S needs some company in your A/V rack -- and gold isn't your color -- maybe this will do the trick for you.

If you were disappointed that you had to keep the $80 disc for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in your gaming rig to be able to play the better-reviewedModern Warfare remaster, you're in luck. Publisher Activision has announced that it will reverse the classic bait and switch tactic it employed with Infinite Warfare by putting out Modern Warfare Remastered as a standalone title on June 27th. Of course, it's not all straightforward, as the title will only be available for PS4 as a disc or digital download (at first). We've reached out to Activision for more specific information on other platform release dates.

After Infinite Warfare, I was ready to give up on Call of Duty. I just didn't think the futuristic space setting was very compelling and couldn't bring myself to finish the campaign. Just when I thought I was out though, Sledgehammer Games has pulled me back in. For the next installment of the franchise, the title is going back to its roots: World War II in Europe. To me, the historical Call of Duty games are the best ones, and this year's installment looks very promising.

The first time I played the original Destiny, I felt frustrated and annoyed. It was a fun online co-op team shooter but the game's narrative was insultingly shallow -- a poorly written space opera where a vague "darkness" was out to destroy a mysterious entity called the Traveler that somehow thrust humanity into a golden age, but also might be dead. It took a year for Bungie to patch in interesting characters and emotional hooks with The Taken King expansion, but by then, I had moved on. Destiny 2, however, has my attention. Not only does it look like a good starting point for new players, but it has the one thing every epic story needs: a great villain.

When it comes to serialized media, be it film, comics or video games, rarely does someone say with conviction that "the sequel was better." The expectations are always too high. A good sequel not only has to embody the best of its predecessor, but also be new and original enough to stand on its own. Destiny 2'sgameplay premiere event didn't completely assure me that it would surpass the original game, but it's off to a great start.

Bungie wants to make it easier to join and play with other people in Destiny 2. Previously, clans were a complicated affair, making you log on to Bungie.net and connect your PSN or Xbox Live account to join them. During a live event today, Bungie revealed that a revamped Clan and matchmaking system will exist in the game itself. This and other new features fell like a welcome push to make the Destiny 2 experience more comfortably social.

Activision and Bungie want to show you what playing Destiny 2 is like. And, lucky for you, the pair will do so via livestream. The future is a pretty wild place, no? We're on the ground in Los Angeles catching all the news firsthand, and if you want to watch along with us, that's what the embedded video player below is for. The whole shebang starts at 1pm Eastern and you can bet that there will be at least a few instances of Nathan Fillion charming us all as robot Cayde-6. You know, like he did in the Destiny 2 teaser trailer back in March.

Call of Duty: WWII will launch November 3rd on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As you might expect, the game takes place largely in Europe between 1944 and 1945, ultimately pushing toward Germany after fighting through Nazi reinforcements on Normandy Beach and through the grimy streets of France and Belgium. As for the story, there's a big focus on the brotherhood of your squad -- something captured in HBO's Band of Brothers and Steven Spielberg's epic Saving Private Ryan. The latter, Sledgehammer says, was a huge influence on the game. Just like it was for Electronic Arts' Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and its console counterpart Frontline in 2002.

The next Call of Duty returns to the series' roots with a storyline set in World War II. Sledgehammer Games is working on the new title, dubbed Call of Duty: WWII, and the studio is expected to drop details in a livestream on Wednesday, April 26th at 1PM ET.

Blizzard is legendary for keeping old games alive, but it's going the extra mile this time around. The studio has unveiledStarCraft: Remastered, an overhaul that drags the 1998 real-time strategy game (including the Brood War expansion) into the modern era. It's getting the obligatory fresh coat of paint, including higher-resolution graphics (with support for 4K resolution), improved audio and support for Blizzard's current game launcher and multiplayer network. However, the team is also using this as an excuse to 'fix' the game by adding content and features you take for granted. There will be reasons to play even if you've played the classic title to death.

Destiny had a rocky start, but the first-person space shooter eventually ended up living up to the promise it showed back when it was announced. Time flies, though, and the original game is nearly three years old, and Bungie has promised a full sequel will be coming soon. Now, thanks to an poster image apparently leaked by an Italian retailer (and posted by Italian site Lega Network), we can be pretty sure that Destiny 2 will arrive this September. Friday, September 8th in Europe, to be precise -- which means the US release date could be the prior Tuesday, September 5th.

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activisionavbungiedestinydestiny2gamingmicrosoftsonyThu, 23 Mar 2017 10:40:00 -040021|22008829https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/16/documentary-to-explore-what-went-wrong-with-tony-hawk-games/https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/16/documentary-to-explore-what-went-wrong-with-tony-hawk-games/https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/16/documentary-to-explore-what-went-wrong-with-tony-hawk-games/#comments
Back in the late '90s, the video games bearing the name of legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk weren't awful. Publisher Activision wasn't a monolith pushing out uninspired, annual sequels across all its franchises either, and in general, it was a happier time in the world. That's where documentary Pretending I'm a Superman: The Tony Hawk Game Story begins. Or, it will begin if it can raise $75,000 on IndieGogo.

Orisa, the latest character to enter the Overwatch fray, will be widely available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 21st. Orisa is an "anchor tank," as Blizzard calls it -- this means she's the kind of massive, damage-absorbing hero that an entire team can rally behind and use as a home base, even in the middle of hectic fights. Reinhardt is another example of an "anchor tank" in Overwatch.

Big news for Overwatch players: Season 4 has begun and a bevy of changes and additions have arrived alongside it. First up, the competitive shooter's server browser. It's live! This means that from here on out, you can set your own parameters for how you want to play. Up for "total mayhem" in the Brawl gametype? Have at it. If the pre-made lists don't turn your crank, you can customize everything from movement speed; hero abilities; map rotation; capture speed; ultimate abilities and a whole lot more for your perfect match. For a peek, check out the video embedded below.

In Rocket League you slam around a Thunderdome-style pitch in hot rally cars while trying to smash a gigantic "rocket ball" into a goal... Basically, it's the perfect marriage of soccer and demolition derby. Now imagine bringing that into the real world with these new tiny replicas of the digital autos from the hit game itself.